Aerobic performance and oxygen free-radicals.
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Electron transport through semiconductor and metallic nanoscale structures, molecular monolayers, and single molecules connected to external electrodes display rectification, switch, and staircase functionality of potential importance in future miniaturization of electronic devices. Common to most reported systems is, however, ultrahigh vacuum and/or cryogenic working conditions. Here we introduce a single-molecule device concept based on a class of robust redox active transition metal (Os(II)/(III)) complexes inserted between the working electrode and tip in an electrochemical scanning tunneling microscope (in situ STM). This configuration resembles a single-molecule transistor, where the reference electrode corresponds to the gate electrode. It operates at room temperature in a condensed matter (here aqueous) environment. Amplification on-off ratios up to 50 are found when the redox level is brought into the energy window between the Fermi levels of the electrodes by the overpotential ("gate voltage"). The current-voltage characteristics for two Os(II)/(III) complexes have been characterized systematically and supported by theoretical frames based on molecular charge transport theory.
Bovine cytochrome c oxidase usually contains 3-4 mol of tightly bound cardiolipin per cytochrome aa3 complex. At least two of these cardiolipins are required for full electron transport activity. Without the tightly bound cardiolipin, cytochrome c oxidase has only 40-50% of its original activity when assayed in detergents that support activity, e.g., dodecyl maltoside. By measuring the restoration of electron transport activity, functional binding constants for cardiolipin and a number of cardiolipin analogues have been evaluated (Kd,app = 1 microM for cardiolipin). These binding constants agree reasonably well with direct measurement of the binding using [14C]-acetyl-cardiolipin (Kd < 0.1 microM) when the enzyme is solubilized with Triton X-100. These data are discussed in relationship to the wealth of data that is known about the association of cardiolipin with cytochrome c oxidase and the other mitochondrial electron transport complexes and transporters.
BACKGROUND: Mitochondria are central to energy production and are therefore fully integrated into the rest of the cell's physiological responses to stress. The age-related decline of capacity of each cell to manufacture energy (as ATP) is due to the progressive loss of structural integrity of mitochondria. It is apparent that as the body ages, the cells become less and less able to maintain threshold levels of cellular energy production. METHODS: In the present study we have evaluated the efficacy of carnitine, a mitochondrial metabolite and lipoic acid, a potent antioxidant on the activities of the tri carboxylic acid (TCA) cycle enzymes like succinate dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase, alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, Isocitrate dehydrogenase and electron transport complex I-IV in young and aged heart mitochondria. RESULT: We observed that there was an age-dependent decrement in the levels of the TCA cycle enzymes and electron transport chain complexes. Supplementation of carnitine (300 mg/kg bw/day) and lipoic acid (100 mg/kg bw/day) for 30 days brought the activities of these enzymes to almost near normal levels. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the combination of these drugs raises the mitochondrial energy producing capabilities by reversing the age-associated decline in mitochondrial enzyme activities and thereby protecting mitochondria from aging.
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Cancer cells are under intrinsic increased oxidative stress and vulnerable to free radical-induced apoptosis. Here, we report a strategy to hinder mitochondrial electron transport and increase superoxide O2. radical generation in human leukemia cells as a novel mechanism to enhance apoptosis induced by anticancer agents. This strategy was first tested in a proof-of-principle study using rotenone, a specific inhibitor of mitochondrial electron transport complex I. Partial inhibition of mitochondrial respiration enhances electron leakage from the transport chain, leading to an increase in O2. generation and sensitization of the leukemia cells to anticancer agents whose action involve free radical generation. Using leukemia cells with genetic alterations in mitochondrial DNA and biochemical approaches, we further demonstrated that As2O3, a clinically active anti-leukemia agent, inhibits mitochondrial respiratory function, increases free radical generation, and enhances the activity of another O2.-generating agent against cultured leukemia cells and primary leukemia cells isolated from patients. Our study shows that interfering mitochondrial respiration is a novel mechanism by which As2O3 increases generation of free radicals. This novel mechanism of action provides a biochemical basis for developing new drug combination strategies using As2O3 to enhance the activity of anticancer agents by promoting generation of free radicals.
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The destruction of the Rieske iron-sulfur cluster ([2Fe-2S]) in the bc(1) complex by hematoporphyrin-promoted photoinactivation resulted in the complex becoming proton-permeable. To study further the role of this [2Fe-2S] cluster in proton translocation of the bc(1) complex, Rhodobacter sphaeroides mutants expressing His-tagged cytochrome bc(1) complexes with mutations at the histidine ligands of the [2Fe-2S] cluster were generated and characterized. These mutants lacked the [2Fe-2S] cluster and possessed no bc(1) activity. When the mutant complex was co-inlaid in phospholipid vesicles with intact bovine mitochondrial bc(1) complex or cytochrome c oxidase, the proton ejection, normally observed in intact reductase or oxidase vesicles during the oxidation of their corresponding substrates, disappeared. This indicated the creation of a proton-leaking channel in the mutant complex, whose [2Fe-2S] cluster was lacking. Insertion of the bc(1) complex lacking the head domain of the Rieske iron-sulfur protein, removed by thermolysin digestion, into PL vesicles together with mitochondrial bc(1) complex also rendered the vesicles proton-permeable. Addition of the excess purified head domain of the Rieske iron-sulfur protein partially restored the proton-pumping activity. These results indicated that elimination of the [2Fe-2S] cluster in mutant bc(1) complexes opened up an otherwise closed proton channel within the bc(1) complex. It was speculated that in the normal catalytic cycle of the bc(1) complex, the [2Fe-2S] cluster may function as a proton-exiting gate.
To address the problem of the pathogenesis in diabetic neuropathy, rats were made diabetic by streptozotocin administration, and discrete brain regions, such as cortex, cerebellum, brainstem, thalamus, and hypothalamus, were sampled for assay of activities of electron transport chain complexes I-IV at 1 and 3 mo after induction of diabetes. Significant decrease was seen in activities of dinitrophenylhydrazine DNPH-coenzyme Q reductase (complex I), coenzyme Q cytochrome-c reductase (complex III), and cytochrome-c oxidase (complex IV) from discrete brain regions with more pronounced changes in complex I. The decline in the complex I, III, and IV activity was more severe in the 3-mo group. Succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) coenzyme Q reductase (complex II), which is an enzyme shared by tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and electron transport chain, showed a significant increase under the same set of conditions. These results suggest that the bioenergetic impairment has an important role in the pathophysiology of diabetes.
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In vitro synthesized Pet1402 precursor protein is very rapidly and efficiently imported into isolated mitochondria. The import depends on a membrane potential and functional mtHsp70. The mitochondrial targeting sequence of the Pet1402 precursor protein is removed by the matrix processing peptidase MPP and the mature protein is firmly embedded in the inner mitochondrial membrane. The Pet1402 protein is required for the integrity of the cytochrome oxidase and ubiquinol-cytochrome c oxidoreductase complexes.
It has been documented that dietary copper (Cu) deficiency impairs mitochondrial respiratory function, which is catalyzed by 5 membrane-bound multiple protein complexes. However, there are few reports on the simultaneous analysis of Cu effect on the subunit protein expression on all 5 protein complexes. The present study was undertaken to determine the effect of Cu deficiency on each mitochondrial respiratory complex's protein expression in rat heart tissue with western-blot analysis. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed diets that were either Cu adequate (6.0 microg Cu/g diet, n = 5) or Cu deficient (0.3 microg Cu/g diet, n = 5) for 5 wk. The monoclonal antibody-based western-blot analysis suggested that the protein levels of 39-kDa and 30-kDa subunits in complex I; 70-kDa and 30-kDa subunits in complex II; core I and core II subunits in complex III; and alpha and beta subunits of F1 complex in complex V in both high-salt buffer (HSB) and low-salt buffer (LSB) protein fractions from heart tissue of Cu-deficient rats did not differ from those of Cu-adequate rats. However, the protein level of cytochrome c oxidase (CCO) subunit (COX) I, COX Vb, and COX VIb subunits in complex IV (CCO) in both HSB and LSB protein fractions from heart tissue of Cu-deficient rats was lower than those of Cu-adequate rats. Collectively, these data demonstrate that Cu deficiency decreases each tested subunit protein expression of complex IV but not those of complex I, II, III, and V in mitochondrial respiratory complexes.
Defective complex I activity has been linked to Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease, but little is known of the regional distribution of this enzyme in the brain. We have developed a quantitative autoradiographic assay using [3H]dihydrorotenone ([3H]DHR) to label and localize complex I in brain tissue sections. Binding was specific and saturable and in the cerebellar molecular layer had a KD of 11.5 +/- 1.3 nM and a Bmax of 11.0 +/- 0.4 nCi/mg of tissue. Unlabeled rotenone and 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ion competed effectively for DHR binding sites. Binding was markedly enhanced by 100 microM NADH. The distribution of complex I in brain, as revealed by DHR autoradiography, is unique but somewhat similar to that of cytochrome oxidase (complex IV). This assay may provide new insight into the roles of complex I in brain function and neurodegeneration.
The nuclear ABC1 gene was isolated as a multicopy suppressor of a cytochrome b mRNA translation defect. Its inactivation leads to a respiratory deficiency suggesting a block in the bc1 segment of the respiratory chain [Bousquet, I., Dujardin, G. & Slonimski, P. P. (1991) EMBO J. 10, 2023-2031]. In the present study, we established that deleting the ABC1 chromosomal gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae does not prevent the assembly of the bc1 complex (complex III) but markedly impairs the kinetics of its high-potential electron transfer pathway occurring on the positive, outer, side of the membrane, which results in reduced activity of the bc1 complex. In addition, the activity of complex II and its cytochrome b560 decrease drastically and complex IV activity is halved. It is also observed that the binding of the quinol to the bc1 complex ubiquinol oxidation site is affected and that adding exogenous quinones partially compensates for the respiratory deficiency in vitro, although the quinone content of mutant and wild-type mitochondria are similar. Lastly, complexes II, III and IV are found to be thermosensitive and the bc1 complex exhibits greater sensitivity than the wild-type strain to center N and P inhibitors, suggesting that the three multisubunit complexes have undergone structural modifications. The data suggest that the ABC1 gene product acts as a chaperone-like protein essential for the proper conformation and efficient functioning of the bc1 complex and the effects of the Abc1 protein on the complexes II and IV might result from interactions with the modified bc1 complex.
Several different proton pumps were used to generate a proton motive force (delta p, proton motive force across the mitochondrial inner membrane) in isolated rat liver mitochondria, and the relationship between delta p and pump rate was investigated by titrating with various inhibitors of the pumps. It was found that this relationship was the same for mitochondria respiring on succinate irrespective of whether respiration was inhibited with malonate, antimycin or cyanide, indicating that the relationship was independent of the redox state of the respiratory chain. When delta p was generated by either the cytochrome bc1 complex, cytochrome oxidase, both together, or ATP hydrolysis (and transport), the reaction rates (in moles of electrons or ATP) were in the ratio of close to 3:1.5:1:1, respectively, at all accessible values of delta p. This suggests that the proton stoichiometries (H+/e and H+/ATP, where H+/e is the number of protons translocated vectorially across the inner membrane per electron transferred by the respiratory chain and H+/ATP is the number of protons translocated vectorially per ATP molecule hydrolyzed externally) were in the ratio of close to 1:2:3:3, respectively, at all values of delta p. Possible reasons for previous contradictory results are suggested.
We used the Fischer 344 rat as a model for aging effects on the heart. Cardiac interfibrillar mitochondria (IFM), located between the myofibrils, exhibit a decrease in protein yield and oxidative phosphorylation through complex III and IV in elderly (24 months) compared to adult controls (6 months). In contrast, subsarcolemmal mitochondria (SSM) located beneath the plasma membrane remained unchanged. The activity of electron transport complex III decreased only in the IFM with aging. Complex III and IV require an inner mitochondrial membrane lipid, cardiolipin for maximal activity. However, the content and composition of cardiolipin was unchanged in the IFM from aging hearts. We observed electron leakage in complex III at the myxothiazol site in the aging IFM accompanied by increased superoxide production. The aging heart sustains greater injury during ischemia and reperfusion compared to adult hearts. We propose that ischemic damage combines with aging defects in complex III to increase oxidative injury in aging hearts. Ischemia damaged complex III in both SSM and IFM from adult and aging hearts via impairment of the iron-sulfur subunit without the loss of the apoprotein. Thus, at the onset of reperfusion, complex III in IFM contains two defects in electron flow, which are likely to prime complex III for enhanced oxidant production during reperfusion, leading to increased damage in aging hearts.
During apoptosis, the permeabilization of the mitochondrial outer membrane allows the release of cytochrome c, which induces caspase activation to orchestrate the death of the cell. Mitochondria rapidly lose their transmembrane potential (Delta Psi m) and generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), both of which are likely to contribute to the dismantling of the cell. Here we show that both the rapid loss of Delta Psi m and the generation of ROS are due to the effects of activated caspases on mitochondrial electron transport complexes I and II. Caspase-3 disrupts oxygen consumption induced by complex I and II substrates but not that induced by electron transfer to complex IV. Similarly, Delta Psi m generated in the presence of complex I or II substrates is disrupted by caspase-3, and ROS are produced. Complex III activity measured by cytochrome c reduction remains intact after caspase-3 treatment. In apoptotic cells, electron transport and oxygen consumption that depends on complex I or II was disrupted in a caspase-dependent manner. Our results indicate that after cytochrome c release the activation of caspases feeds back on the permeabilized mitochondria to damage mitochondrial function (loss of Delta Psi m) and generate ROS through effects of caspases on complex I and II in the electron transport chain.
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